CTAA March News. The Central Texas Accordion Association. Musical Bingo and Good Company

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1 CTAA March News The Central Texas Accordion Association Musical Bingo and Good Company Month s Meeting: 3/21/12 Next Meeting: 4/18/2012 March brought quite a bit of illness and personal conflicts, so to those of you who couldn t make it to the meeting, get well soon, and we ll see you all in April! After we got club business out of the way, we got right into playing with some musical bingo. How it works: everyone gets a 5x5 bingo sheet with a song title on each square. Other than that, it s just like Bingo. Lucille Dee was our gracious announcer, drawing a song name at random at a time. After she called out a song, we d first mark our sheets, then play the song, and then she d call out the next one. Club Business First, here s a reminder for those of you who haven t paid your 2012 dues! Please get in touch with Ginny ASAP. With both JW Klaus and Dr. Kott absent, leading the meeting fell on my shoulders. 8 members were present, plus four accordions, one Some of the songs we played were old favorites like Chiapanecas and The Yellow Rose of Texas, and some were new ones like Love Theme from The Godfather (which sounded fantastic with John Fine s mandolin!) and Let It Be. We went through 13 songs before John hit Bingo, claiming a bag of bridge mix as his prize. What fun we might have Bingo again, if you missed it! Then, we took our break, sitting around sharing stories and enjoying cheesecake with cherry topping. After the break, Ginny played a couple of songs that she had been working on to share with concertina, and a mandolin. First, Jim Bayliss told the rest of us about his time at the National Accordion Association Convention (see p. 2). Then, we talked about the idea of having CTAA jam sessions, either on a weeknight or a Sunday afternoon; we ll have to find a us. The first was a nice piece called Tea for Two, followed by Soprani Smiles Polka. Bravo, Ginny! We wrapped up the evening listening to Rolly play us a few songs, including La Cumparsita, a tango he s been working on. What a fun evening! Ginny serenades us! location willing to host us. Any musicians would be able to join. Overall, the reaction was positive. Any volunteers to form a jam committee? Any volunteer to head the committee? We will also plan on having more structure to the upcoming meetings, including 7-9PM Lamar Senior Activity Center 2874 Shoal Crest Officers President: J.W. Klaus jklaus4@austin.rr.com Vice President: Dr. Dan Kott dfkott@aol.com Treasurer: Ginny Prasatik gprasatik@att.net Secretary: Veronika Bordás v2bordas@gmail.com TO PAY YOUR CTAA DUES!

2 2 Business, p. 1, ctd. both bringing in more guest performers as well as organizing some workshops. As for potential workshops, members present suggested bringing in a Jazz musical accordionist, a tango accordionist, or an Irish button accordionist. Suggestions are still welcome! If you are on my call list, then you should have gotten a call or voice message on 3/19. me at v2bordas@gmail.com if you would like to be removed. Free For All is on June 12! Nope, it s never too early to sign up with Mike Sullivan or Lucille Dee! Jim s Take on the National Accordion Convention Jim Bayliss went to the National Accordion Association Convention (March in Dallas) and had a great time; he had lots of stories to share at the meeting, so I'll include some in the newsletter. Jim drove up early Friday morning for the convention. He first went to a session led by Nick Bratkovich, who plays Eastern European music. The session was interesting because he talked about playing in unusual time signatures like 9/16 and 13/16. Then Jim went to a session led by an accordionist from the Northwest who lectured on playing zydeco and demonstrated with some pieces he sang along with. Jam Sessions and MOVE After listening to a lecture on polkas by a man from the Chicago area, Jim listened to Betty Jo Simon give practicing and playing tips. On Friday, Jim went to a concert featuring five players under 30. Jim was really impressed and particularly enjoyed Matt Tolentino s performance of Palesteena, which tells the tale of a girl named Lena from Palesteena who plays the concertina. Overall, Jim says that he enjoyed the convention a lot and that it was definitely worth going, even if it is a little pricey. Did you go to the Convention? Tell us about it! We ll include your comments in next month s newsletter. CTAA at the Convention Also at the Convention were Debra Peters, Sheila Lee, and Dr. Kott and his MECCA group. Dr. Kott received an award plaque for his years of teaching traditional music and dance and demonstrating traditional dress at the convention. Congratulations! Help make a CTAA Jam Session possible! Let us know what you think and if you d be able to help organize a regular jam. It s a great way to learn some new music and meet fellow musicians. The Central Texas Bluegrass Association has jam sessions on the 2 nd and 4 th Saturday of each month, at the Artz Ribhouse in Austin, from 4-6PM. There are also Cajun jam sessions at the Fiddler s Green (1809 W. 35 th ) on the 1 st, 3 rd, and 5 th Sundays from 1-3PM. And if you re interested, Bess invites you to join the MOVE group, which plays regularly every Wednesday. The MOVE schedule: 1 st - Retirement and Nursing Center on Burnet Lane. 2 nd - Heatherwilde Assisted Living in Pflugerville. 3 rd - Buckner Villa near Braker Lane and IH 35. 4th - Sagebrook Retirement Center in Cedar Park. If you need more directions and want to come play music, call Mike Sullivan at (512)

3 Upcoming Events Mark your calendars our April Meeting is on April 18 th! If you are on our call list, expect a reminder call from on Monday, April16 th. Join Debra Peters Accordion Roundup at the Broken Spoke every Tuesday from 6-8PM. Joel Guzman s Squeezebox Mania is on April 21 st at Jovita s (1619 South First). Performers will include Debra Peters and Charles Thibodeaux. The Big Squeeze Contest for young accordionists is accepting audition tapes until April 2. Listen to the semifinals on April 28 here in town, at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Finals are on June 2 in Houston, at the Accordion Kings & Queens Concert at the Miller Outdoor Theater. The Annual Tejano Conjunto Festival in San Antonio runs from May See for more info. Our very own CTAA Free For All will be on TUESDAY, JUNE 12, so mark your calendars! Sign up with Mike Sullivan or Lucille Dee. If you have events or performances you d like to let CTAA members know about, me! Out-of-Town Events Debra Peters has been invited to play at the Branson Accordion Festival in Branson, Missouri (May 17-20), and she and Carol will also be at the Cotati Accordion Festival in Cotati, California (Aug ). Sheila Lee will be having Alex Meixner come to her accordion shop in Galveston on April 2 for some polka music. Come support Lori Brooke (featured below) as she plays accordion for the 5-piece orchestra for The Spitfire Grill theater piece. Lori writes: James Valcq, composer, did a terrific job of showcasing the different techniques available to the accordion, like bellow shakes, reed bending, and registration changes frequently throughout. After hearing this score, I cannot imagine it without the accordion. The music has sort of an Appalachian feel. Performances are April 19-29, the Mary Moody Northern Theatre at St. Edward s University. See for more info. 3 Featuring CTAA s Lori Brooke! Lori Brooke grew up in Nordheim, Texas and started taking accordion lessons in the second grade. Her German heritage and the German influence within that community encouraged her to continue with the instrument throughout high school. While she was still in school, Lori met and performed with the Hi Toppers Band in New Braunfels at Wurstfest at the suggestion of her school band director and Hi Topper musician, James Findeisen. It was there that Lori met CTAA s own Willard Dyer who took her under his wing and showed her how to play along with the group by ear. These brief performances also afforded Lori with her first opportunity to be on stage with Myron Floren. After high school, Lori graduated with a B.A. in Music and a postgraduate certification in Legal Assisting from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. From 1990 to 1995, and again in 1997, she performed with Myron Floren in the Wurst Band at Wurstfest in New Braunfels, Texas. She also studied accordion with Tony Rozance in San Antonio from about 1990 to From 1992 to 1994 Lori performed German folk music at the Six Flags Fiesta Theme Lori (left) and her co-performer park. She continues performing with one of her co-performers from Fiesta Texas, Sharlene Trumet, in a duo called Lorelei und Schatzi. She has performed big band music, German folk music, and country music, and has sung classical music with various bands, choral groups and orchestras. Some of her favorite performances included The Three Penny Opera by Kurt Weill with the Alabama Symphony and a Lorelei und Schatzi German show at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, CA for their annual Sound of Music night. Lori currently lives in Lakeway, TX and works as a Database Systems Manager at Multimedia Games, Inc in Austin.

4 4 Stage Fright, Stage Presence, and Stage Manners By Mike Sullivan [Due to its length, this article will appear in three parts ( Parts 2-April and 3-May] This writing contains some basic ideas relating to stage presence, stage manners and stage fright. When you think of it, in the past, any areas in which you have had some knowledge, some understanding and some experience, you were also likely to have felt as though you had some confidence and control. You probably felt comfortable and had little or no fear associated with those areas. The idea here then is to add to your knowledge and confidence at being on stage in front of audiences. If you become familiar with a few basics in this regard, you might become less vulnerable to the effects of Stage Fright. If, however, some of your timidity remains regarding audiences, know that you are in very good company. Some of our favorite actors, singers, orators and statesmen have suffered from various degrees of stage fright, ranging from nervousness to seriously debilitating fear of audiences. And yet, most of them gave the appearance of being completely comfortable and in control in front of large groups. I hope some of these ideas will help you. 1. Take a deep breath. My father always advised me to pause a moment and take a deep breath right after taking the stage and before doing anything else. The benefits of this elementary sounding step are multiple. It gives your pounding heart a moment to settle down. It gives your nerves a chance to settle and gives you a chance to get oriented. Look at your audience and acknowledge their presence. You can thank them for being there, and for their applause. Flash them a reassuring confident smile. 2. Look confident, comfortable and in control even if you don t feel that way. This will put the audience at ease and on your side. A big toothy grin is not necessary. A pleasant respectful expression is fine. 3. Making friends. One of the easiest ways to get an audience on your side is to talk to them. If you have a brief exchange with one or two audience members, the whole audience will feel like they were part of the conversation. Your comfort level will also immediately increase. Ask simple questions. Anyone here from Texas? Where were you born? What song would you like to hear? What is your favorite polka? [To Be Continued!!!] Crossqueeze! For those of you who gave it a shot, here are the answers to the accordion-themed crossword puzzle that appeared in the February newsletter: Squeezebox / Around the clocks, we play the Scales / Hated exercises (not jumping jacks) Willard / Austin's accordion king (ask the Statesman for help) CajunAces / Neither the Bluegrass Jacks nor the Zydeco Deuces, but the Kolaches / Apricot, poppyseed, cream cheese. Concertina / Smallest instrument at meeting twentyfirst / When do we meet again? fifteen / Annual Dues (and don'ts) FreeForAll / Mark your calendar, June 12! Evangeline / Cajun Ace performance space TAN / Accordionists socialize online (website!) Independence / Neither GOPs nor Dems, March is the month of Texas Armadillo / Front-page squeezer Doghill / Where the pretty women are

5 5 Ginny Prasatik, Jim Klier, and Paula Klier cut the cheesecake John Fine plays his mandolin Newsletter News This CTAA newsletter is brought to you by your secretary, Veronika Bordás. Any type-os, misprints, and factual inaccuracies are my fault. me at with information about upcoming events/performances, and I ll include them in the next newsletter. Likewise, if you have any photos or if you ve written any accordion-related articles, me if you d like to see them in this newsletter! I d be happy to feature them. (Ideas: How I met my accordion, Most interesting gig I played, Bet you didn t know X about the accordion/this type of music/this accordionist. (Bet you didn t know the Mona Lisa played accordion!) Artwork by Bess Sullivan